The Really Big Cross Over
by AdmiralM
Summary: A cross-over situated in the ST universe with an immortal, two vampires, a whitelighter, two trill and a ship
1. Part 1

This is a cross-over between Star Trek (mostly), Buffy, Angel, Charmed, Farscape and The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (although the last two are only minor additions).   
  
Then the standard: I don't own the characters from the previously named series/movies, I'm only borrowing them.  
  
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THE REALLY BIG CROSS-OVER (in lack of a better title)  
  
"God, I wish this wouldn't shake so much," Reiko Shren, most of the time Operations Officer on the Stella Navis II, said, holding on to her console to keep standing.  
  
"Yeah, I know," Captain Aeryn Silverberg replied, "but we still know only half about how this Drive works and Angel's got no idea why it does the shaking thing, so…."  
  
Suddenly the shaking stopped.  
  
"Great!" Aeryn said, "Let's find out where we are."   
  
"I'm comparing star charts right now," Spike, at the helm, answered. A few seconds later, the answer rolled out and Spike turned around.  
  
"We've come a long way," he said, "Delta Quadrant."   
  
"Delta Quadrant?!" Aeryn said, "Cool, we never been here before."   
  
"Yeah, putting it on screen right now," Spike said and keyed in a few commands after which a big picture of their position relevant to other star systems and phenomena.  
  
"Reiko, do we have anything on file about the DQ?" Aeryn said turning to the left.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Okay, well, just… go somewhere Spike."   
  
"Got it!" Spike said, liking that the most, just going somewhere. He had mostly been piloting this vessel, the Stella Navis III, and its predecessors the Stella Navis I and II, from the beginning, 117 years already.  
  
"Hey guys," interrupted a voice from the back.  
  
Three men came out of the turbo lift and headed to the front where the other three were.  
  
"What's up?" Aeryn asked as she eyed the trio, the Doctor, Leo Wyatt, mostly Chief Engineer Angel and their often Chief Security Officer Deyran Yiy.  
  
"We've managed to update the Babel Fish," Deyran continued.  
  
"Update?"  
  
"Yeah," Angel added, "we've added a locator chip. That way we can locate one another even if we would loose our communication badges."  
  
"That is a terrific idea, did you build in a communicator too?" Reiko asked.  
  
"No," Leo answered, "we tried to, but the Fish couldn't handle that."   
  
"Okay," Aeryn said, "lets put them in then."   
  
"First we'll have to remove the others," Leo said and held up a hypospray.  
  
"I'll inject us all with this, which causes the Fish to come out and then we can put the new ones in."   
  
"Go ahead," Aeryn said and bend her head to the side.  
  
Leo pressed the hypospray against it and injected the Captain; then he continued to do so until all six crew members had been injected. A few seconds later, everyone started pulling at their ears and soon they all had a small Fish in their hand. Deyran deposited his in an empty basin he had brought along up and passed it round.  
  
Then Leo carefully lifted one of the new ones out and pressed his hand against Aeryn's ear. She wrinkled her face as the Fish slithered in but as soon as it was in place, it was as if there was no Fish at all. Leo then did the same to the others and himself.   
  
"Testing time," Reiko said as she pressed a few buttons. Angel, take off your badge and go somewhere."  
  
Angel gave his badge to Deyran next to him and left the Bridge; he then quickly stepped inside the bathroom there and waited.  
  
"Computer, locate Angel," Reiko ordered, back on the bridge.  
  
"Angel is in Bathroom 1," said the computer, followed by: "Angel is on the bridge."   
  
Aeryn frowned and looked at Deyran.  
  
"Off course we'll have to turn the locator in the badges off," he said.  
  
Aeryn smiled, "It's okay, I got that. Will you go and get him?" Deyran nodded and left the bridge.  
  
A minute later, he returned with Angel.   
  
"I have spare badges down in Engineering, I'll disable the locators in some of them and then we can replace them with the ones we have now."  
  
"Why don't you just take these with you?" Spike asked.  
  
"We wouldn't be able to contact each other in emergencies," Angel explained, "it'll take some time, it's precision work."  
  
"All right," Aeryn nodded, "let's do it. Angel go on and change the badge's, Spike engage on the previously set course, warp 2; Reiko keep an eye out for interesting anomalies and such. I'll go get some sleep, I've been up for twelve hours straight; Deyran you have the Bridge."  
  
Everyone went about their duties as Aeryn dragged herself to the lift, the moment she entered it though, she gasped and stiffened. The others turned around and waited for her to relax, they were used to her premonitions by now.  
  
"What did you see?" asked Leo when Aeryn relaxed.   
  
"Nothing very much out of the ordinary, hostile aliens, I'd say three light years from here, on a course that'll pass us. We'd better watch out, I saw them attacking, but I couldn't see why. They kinda tore us apart so better keep shields and weapons ready. I'll try to get some sleep, but I'll come down if necessary. We know this drill; see ya." Aeryn looked around briefly and saw all nodding heads upon which she completely entered the lift and went down. They all knew she liked her space battles and would rather fight them than divert course to go around them.  
  
About half an hour later, Reiko laughed.  
  
"She did it again, they just showed up on sensors."   
  
"When will they be in weapons range?" Deyran asked.  
  
"Oh, I'd say about three hours present speed," Reiko answered.  
  
"Spike, slow down to full impulse. That'll give us some more time to think strategy and offer Aeryn some more sleep. That way she'll be awake when we need that tactical brain of hers."   
  
"Slowing down," Spike said, punching buttons, "okay, we're at full impulse."   
  
"Reiko, how much time now?"   
  
"We just bought ourselves two hours more, given they don't speed up."  
  
"Okay, send a wakening call to Aeryn in four hours."   
  
"Programmed."   
  
Then Deyran tapped his commbadge.  
  
"Deyran to Angel."  
  
"Angel here."  
  
"How far are you getting along with those badges?"  
  
"Two down, four to go. Two more hours and they'll be done."  
  
"Great, pay attention though, we'll be meeting some aliens in about five hours, and they're probably hostile. Aeryn had a premonition. Make sure the W's are ready."  
  
"Weapons and warp drive at your command."  
  
"Great, Deyran out."  
  
The next thirty minutes went by calm. The alien ship had not sped up or slowed down, raised its weapons or its shields. Suddenly Reiko called out: "Damn!"  
  
"What is it?" Deyran said.  
  
"I think they spotted us," Reiko said, "they're speeding up and raising shields."   
  
"ETA?"  
  
"Two hours, at most."   
  
"Shields up, wake Aeryn," Deyran said and tapped his badge again.  
  
"Angel, they spotted us, they're coming."   
  
"When?"  
  
"Two hours tops, keep it smooth down there."  
  
"Always," he said, "Angel out." Deyran tapped his badge again.  
  
"Leo, come up here, you'll be needed soon."  
  
"On my way."  
  
A few seconds later, Aeryn stepped up the bridge. Even though she had only had an hour of sleep, she looked a bit fitter. Shortly after her, Leo entered from the other side.  
  
"Status Deyran," Aeryn said as she took her place in the command chair.  
  
"They're on their way. They spotted us and have sped up, ETA, two hours…"  
  
"By now its 90 minutes," Reiko interrupted, "they sped up a little more but are now constant."  
  
"…Their shields are up although we couldn't yet detect any weapons. It does seem that their sensors are not as good as ours, it was half an hour after we detected them that they seemed to detect us."  
  
"Perfect," Aeryn said and suppressed a yawn. Leo came closer and put his hands on her head.  
  
"I'll temporarily remove the tiredness so you'll see what you're doing"  
  
"Great," yawned Aeryn as a light glowed around Leo's hands and onto her head. When he lifted his hands, Aeryn stretched and smiled.  
  
"Better, much better, thanks Leo buddy."  
  
She sat down in the command chair as Deyran took the Tactical console and Leo took a seat at the science console on the side.  
  
"Okay people, let's kick some butt," Aeryn said, smiling, "Spike keep it at full impulse, ready to go to warp in case they're stronger, Deyran, keep phasers down for now, but I want you to have them standby the second I ask for it." She tapped her commbadge and continued; "Angel, make sure everything works down there, need help?"  
  
"A little help wouldn't hurt."  
  
"Leo'll come down, but he might have to come back up to heal if we're hit," Aeryn said upon which Leo stood up and orbed down to Engineering.  
  
"Perfect," Angel said, "Angel out."  
  
"Reiko, everything ship shape?"  
  
"Couldn't be better, we're in the best shape ever," Reiko said, obviously proud of the ship.  
  
"Okay, the wait has now begun."  
  
"They're in visual range," Reiko said, about forty-five minutes later.  
  
"On screen," Aeryn said and looked at the small vessel, just slightly bigger than the Stella Navis.   
  
"Reiko?" Aeryn asked.  
  
"Their shields are up, weapons stand by, but I'm not sure about their armament, it looks like phasers and torpedoes but they could have some tricks up their sleeve, the ship's unknown in our database."  
  
"Raise our shields, weapons stand by," Aeryn ordered.  
  
"Shields up, weapons ready," Deyran said.   
  
"When are we in range?"  
  
"Thirty minutes," said Reiko, "correction, they're speeding up again, twenty-three minutes, fourteen minutes, seven minutes, three minutes… a minute… They're hailing us."  
  
"Showtime!" Aeryn said, "On screen."  
  
On the viewscreen a vicious looking alien appeared.  
  
"You're in our territory, stop right now and prepare to be boarded."  
  
"No," Aeryn said.  
  
The alien seemed dumbfounded by this straight refusal.  
  
"Stop right now and…" he began again.  
  
"I said no," Aeryn repeated, "We will not be boarded."  
  
"Then suffer the consequences," the alien said and cut the connection.  
  
"They're powering up weapons!" Deyran said, readying the Stella Navis' phasers.  
  
"Shoot at will, but only after they shoot the first shot," Aeryn said.  
  
"Off course," Deyran said, familiar with the procedure. The Stella Navis never shot first in conflicts.  
  
Then the first shot of the alien ship hit the SN, the ship rocked and Reiko fell, luckily she got up right away again.  
  
"Shields down to 86%," Deyran said, as he fired a volley of phasershots at some critical points of the alien vessel.   
  
"Their shields are down about 10% I'd guess," Reiko said, "they hit our phaserbanks, if they do that once or twice more, they're down." At the moment she had said it, new phaserfire hit the ship.   
  
"Shields down to 47%," Deyran said and returned fire, "Got them! I penetrated their shields at a weak spot."  
  
"Concentrate fire on the weakness," Aeryn said as she keyed in some commands on her armrest and studied an overview of the situation.   
  
Then, the Stella Navis was hit again.  
  
"Shields are down," Deyran said, "our phasers can't get through their shields."  
  
"Arm photons and show them we're serious about the not boarding," Aeryn ordered, looking grim at the enemy.  
  
"Yes ma'am!" Deyran said, with a wide grin on his face as he hit the controls and sent a volley of photons at the alien vessel. All three torpedoes hit target and did a fair amount of damage by bringing the shields down to about 25%. Unfortunately, the alien ship retaliated, and it did it hard, Six torpedoes came flying at the Stella Navis.  
  
"Evasive!" Aeryn ordered and Spike worked the controls feverishly, swaying the ship and so evading two of the torpedoes. The other four hit them and made the phaserbanks go offline and almost caused a hull breach on Deck Four.  
  
"Warning!" the computer said, "Deck Four hull breach imminent."  
  
"Damn," Aeryn sighed, "Spike evasive, Deyran ready new torpedo volley, three times three, Reiko, how are their warp capabilities?"  
  
"Same as ours, but were damaged, we can't go faster than Warp 5, and they're still up to speed."  
  
"Damn! Spike, be ready; as soon as all three volleys are fired, take evasive manoeuvres. Deyran, fire!" With a few taps on the console, nine torpedoes shot out of the Stella Navis and headed toward the alien vessel. Six hit target and the enemy shields were down.  
  
At the same time on the Stella Navis, Aeryn tapped her commbadge.  
  
"Angel, patch up Deck Four and get us phasers!"  
  
"Working on it. Phasers in a few minutes, but we need to get away from them."  
  
"Got it, Aeryn out. Deyran, you heard him, be ready, fire a few more torpedoes and try to kill their engines."  
  
"We don't' have that much torpedoes left, only eight."  
  
"Eight?"   
  
"Our last battle before we used the Improbability Drive took fifteen."  
  
"Damn it," she said as now phaserfire hit the ship but didn't do much damage.  
  
"I've rerouted some auxiliary power to form emergency shields but we got to get away," Reiko added.  
  
Aeryn nodded, "Spike prepare to go to warp and out of here, Deyran what about phasers.  
  
"They're not… they're back online, firing."  
  
Suddenly everything happened at the same time. As the alien vessel took little damage from the Stella's phasers, she took some pretty heavy damage from a new phaservolley. At the same time, Reiko called out: "Other ship approaching, it's huge."  
  
"Enemy?"  
  
"No… it's... it's Federation."  
  
"Federation?"  
  
"Yeah, their shields are up and weapons loaded."  
  
As the Stella Navis took evasive measures and fired some more phasers, barely hitting the enemy, the Federation vessel closed in and soon reached the battle.  
  
"They're hailing us," Reiko said.  
  
"On screen, quick," Aeryn said.  
  
"I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager, need help?"  
  
"Yes!"  
  
Voyager then fired a torpedo spread at the vessel as the Stella Navis fired her phasers at them. This was enough, the aliens took some more damage and decided to retreat as they sped of at high warp. 


	2. Part 2

Aeryn, Leo & Angel walked into the transporter room and stood on the pad. Since the Stella Navis wasn't a big starship, they could only transport three people at a time and this time it were them. Reiko stood at the controls and Spike and Deyran stood by.  
  
"Spike, you have the conn," Aeryn said, "I'll contact you when we return, okay?"  
  
"Whatever you say," Spike said in his off hand manner, "you sure you can trust this Janeway woman? I mean, the Federation hasn't explored this far yet."  
  
"I know," Aeryn said, "but they're in the database. The update I downloaded just before we entered the Gamma Quadrant had a last minute update about the Federation Starship Voyager that went missing, and was presumed lost, in the Badlands in early 2371. I read up on the specs and it's them, so don't worry." Aeryn smiled and nodded at Reiko.  
  
"Coordinates set," she said as she tapped the controls.  
  
"Energize," Aeryn said and the three dematerialized…  
  
…and rematerialized on the transporter pad in Voyager's Transporter Room. When she regained her senses, Aeryn stepped off the pad and toward Janeway who stood there together with two men.  
  
"Captain Janeway," she said.  
  
"Captain Silverberg," Janeway said, smiling, "welcome aboard the USS Voyager.  
  
"Thank you, I'm delighted to be back aboard a Starfleet Vessel." Aeryn said, "May I introduce you to two of my crewmembers, Leo Wyatt, our doctor and Angel, Chief Engineer."  
  
Janeway slightly raised her eyebrows at Angel's single name and their general appearance and extended greetings with them. Then she turned around to indicate the two men standing behind her.  
  
"May I introduce you to Commander Chakotay, my First Officer and Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, Chief of Security."  
  
They exchanged greetings after which Janeway led Aeryn and consorts to the turbolift.   
  
"I think it is best if we go to the Briefing Room and discuss the situation," Janeway said, "I'm rather curious about your unfortunate encounter. But if you like, you can get a tour of the ship first."   
  
"That would be great!" Aeryn said, "It's been a long time since I've been on a Starfleet vessel."  
  
"You have been before?"   
  
Aeryn nodded; "I graduated from the Academy and served three years before I resigned and went out to explore with… my friends."  
  
"I see, well, let's start down and work up, shall we?"  
  
"Certainly Captain."  
  
Janeway showed her guests around Engineering, a few labs, Astrometrics and so they worked their way up until they reached Sickbay. Inside the Doctor was introduced and showed them around until suddenly his commbadge beeped.  
  
"Nicoletti to the Doctor! Medical emergency here, Torres has been hurt!"  
  
"Computer, lock on to Lieutenant Torres and beam her directly to Sickbay!" the Doctor ordered.  
  
B'Elanna Torres appeared on a biobed and the Doctor rushed to her and started scanning her.  
  
"She's badly hurt," he said, administrating a hypospray and starting to prepare another.   
  
"She's worsening faster than I can counteract," the Doctor added.  
  
"Maybe I can help," Leo said, stepping forward, "I'm a doctor." He stood next to the bed and assisted the EMH in treating B'Elanna. It seemed to be working, but suddenly she went into seizure.   
  
"She's hemorrhaging internally and heavy too," Leo said.  
  
"At this rate she won't make it…" the Doctor said.  
  
Leo shook his head and placed his hands on Torres' stomach area; "Not if I can help it!" he said. His hands started to glow and, on their own, the external wounds healed and B'Elanna stopped seizuring. The Doctor stood with surprise on his face as he pulled out the tricorder and scanned B'Elanna while Leo continued to heal her.  
  
"She's stabilizing!?" he said, "The bleeding stopped… all her injuries are gone!?" The Doctor looked at Leo with amazement.  
  
"How did you do that?" he asked as Leo took his hands away from Torres who was still sedated, "she's completely healed, she's healthier than ever!?"  
  
"I'm a… eh… healer," he said, hesitating.  
  
Janeway pulled her eyebrows up and clearly wasn't buying it.   
  
"I think this needs some explaining," she said, as B'Elanna woke up.  
  
After filling B'Elanna in on what had happened, eight people, five Starfleet and the three visitors headed for the turbolift.  
  
It soon reached Deck One and they got out. They headed for the Briefing Room and sat down at the big table as Tuvok went away and got the rest of the main crew. When they were all there, Janeway turned to face Aeryn.   
  
"I'm rather curious about the fight you were in," Janeway began, "and also how you got here in the first place. But mostly I'd like to know what just happened in my Sickbay."  
  
"Well, Captain, are you ready for a long story then?" Aeryn said. Janeway questioningly raised her eyebrows as Aeryn turned to look at Leo.  
  
"Are you sure you want to tell them the complete story?" he sent her telepathically.  
  
"Yes, I feel they can be trusted, and besides, your action makes it kinda necessary."  
  
"I had to, you know that."  
  
"Of course, you couldn't have let her die."  
  
"Captain Silverberg?" Janeway asked.   
  
"I'm sorry Captain, I was… distracted," she said, "So, let's begin with how we got here." She smiled and scraped her throat.  
  
"We were in the Gamma Quadrant, exploring, when we encountered a very hostile alien species, they had us massively outgunned and were way faster. We didn't know what to do so we used our Improbability Drive… and then we ended up here."  
  
"Improbability Drive?  
  
"Yeah, it's a new sort, very much a prototype and it will probably never get past that stage as it's almost uncontrollable to decide where you end up. It works by hooking up the logic circuits of a Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain to an atomic vector plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion Producer. Basically, you put in a number which the computer reads as an improbability factor and based on that improbability factor, it takes you somewhere. Anyway, we used it in the Gamma Quadrant for the first time to escape and it got us here."  
  
"I see," Janeway said, "And what about the fight here?"  
  
"That was an accident, shortly after we got here, we encountered them and they just ordered us to stop and prepare to be boarded. And I'm a nice person, on the whole, but no one messes with my ship. So, naturally I refused and then they began firing, and we shot back, and… well, you know the drill I think," Aeryn said, adding; "We could have taken them if their shields had been just a little bit weaker."  
  
Janeway smiled at Aeryn's rambling, she kinda liked this feisty young Captain, even though her gut feeling told her there was something very weird about these people.  
  
"And now I'd like to know what happened in my Sickbay," she said.  
  
"Yeah," Aeryn said, "and in comes the complicated matter. Um… okay. I travel with a bunch of… not very common people. Leo is one of them and he has the very special gift of healing people through his hands, a very useful thing in exploring."   
  
"I see," Janeway said and turned to Tuvok and Chakotay. "Anything from you gentlemen?"  
  
"I do have a question, Captain," Tuvok said, "I noticed that your Chief Engineer does not have a reflection… Why is that?"   
  
Angel looked a bit stricken and glanced to Aeryn. She reassuringly smiled back at him.   
  
"Angel is also a special case," she began, "he is… well… Angel's a vampire."  
  
Tuvok remained stoic, while Janeway and Chakotay shared a look and Tom Paris started laughing.  
  
"Vampires don't exist," he said.  
  
"Angel if you would be so kind as to show him," Aeryn said, getting irritated by hearing the same reply for the nth time. Angel turned to look at Tom and put on his game-face. The he pulled his lips up to extra show the teeth.  
  
"Satisfied?" he asked, and turned to the Captain. "If you don't believe, your doctor can check me and he will see that I am dead."   
  
Tuvok raised his eyebrows and turned to Aeryn, "I am not familiar with the concept of vampires; how does this relate to the absence of a reflection?" Aeryn sighed.   
  
"Well, I give an introduction; Vampires are an ancient race of demons, undead if you will, who live by drinking blood. A human becomes a vampire when he or she is bitten by a vampire and also drinks the vampire's blood in return. That is what happened to Angel. After that, they die and resurrect, usually the following night. After that… a vampire lives for one thing, to hunt for people to drink from and kill, and sometimes sire others, turn them into vampires that is."   
  
"They are like the Borg," Seven said.  
  
"Indeed," Janeway remarked, "they are somewhat like the Borg. But how is it possible that they are killers when the one sitting at this table is so…. Human?"  
  
"Angel, and one other of my crew, are so called 'souled vampires', as far as we know, they are the only ones too," Aeryn continued, "You see, in dying a human's soul leaves the body, so when the body is resurrected, it is soulless and becomes a demon. Angel and Spike, my other crewmember, both got their soul back, giving them a consciousness. This was very hard for them in the beginning because it made them realise what they had done before, killing and such. But they learned to deal with it and have not harmed an innocent ever since. Um… further… Vampires are practically immortal, there are only a few ways in which they can die such as direct sunlight, holy water, and a wooden stake through the heart. As for the reflection, I don't really know why they don't have one, but it's a tell tale sign of vampires."  
  
"Then how can they travel in space with all the suns and such?" Harry Kim asked.  
  
"I can see a sun when it's projected on a viewscreen and things like that, I can just not see the sun through a window and I cannot be on a planet during daylight except when I wear thick protective clothing over all exposed body parts, hands, face everything," Angel replied.  
  
"I imagine that must be hard for you," Janeway said.  
  
"Not anymore, Angel said, "I've lived for a very long time, Captain, I've accepted what I am and its disadvantages. After all, there are a few advantages too."  
  
"If you don't mind me asking," Tom chimed in, "how old are you?" Angel smiled at him, I became a vampire when I was 26, in 1753, you do the math."  
  
Tom calculated in his head and his mouth fell open, "You are 647 years old?!"  
  
Angel just nodded.  
  
"I see that your crew is indeed rather 'uncommon'," Janeway said, "You mentioned another Vampire crewmember? I take it he is also rather long-lived?"  
  
"Yes," Aeryn said, "Spike's…. um… approximately 500 years old, in fact he and Angel are related, in the Vampire sense of the word, Angel is Spike's grandsire."  
  
"What do you mean with that?" Neelix asked?  
  
"It means," Angel began, "that Spike was turned into a Vampire by someone I had sired. Technically, when you turn someone into a Vampire, you become a sort of parent to that Vampire and so, when your childe sires someone else, that is your grandchilde."  
  
"And what about the advantages?" B'Elanna said.  
  
"My senses are heightened," Angel explained, "I see, hear and smell better than most people and I'm stronger and faster than them…  
  
While Angel told the others about the advantages, Leo sent a telepathic message to Aeryn: "I'm being called from the ship, it sounds urgent."  
  
"Go. I'll explain it to them."  
  
… and I also heal quick." Suddenly, Leo disappeared in a cloud of blue lights.  
  
"What happened?" Janeway said as Tuvok took out a tricorder and scanned.  
  
"Leo had to transport back to our ship, there has been an emergency.  
  
"What kind?" Angel asked, all professional.  
  
"Unknown," Aeryn said.  
  
Tuvok was reading data from the tricorder and a PADD when he raised his eyebrows shortly.  
  
"According to the sensor data," he said, "there has not been a transport."  
  
"That would be correct," Aeryn said, "at least, not a transport in the scientific way. I already said Leo was special too, well, he not only has the ability to heal, he can do a few more things. He's a so called Whitelighter, a sort of Guardian Angel, if you would check him, you'd see he is also dead. But he is more or less telepathic and can transport himself, and others too if they're touching him, to practically any location within roughly 100.000 km. It's called orbing. He's also very old, 451 to be exact."  
  
"Okay, any more surprises?" Janeway asked.  
  
"Um… let's see, I've had Leo, Angel, Spike… I have two other crewmembers that are Trill, one joined one unjoined… oh and then there's me."  
  
"Anything special about you?" Chakotay asked, amused.  
  
"As a matter of fact, there is."  
  
A few looks, mostly amused, were shared among Voyager's main crew.  
  
"Is it really," Janeway said wryly, "do tell."  
  
"Well, as you might remember I said it was nice to be back aboard a Starfleet Vessel," Aeryn began.  
  
"Yes, indeed, you said so," Janeway remembered.  
  
"Thing is, it's been a while since I was in Starfleet, I went to the Academy some time ago but I resigned three years after my graduation."  
  
"Forgive me if I'm being rude, but you don't seem so old, to me, it looks like you're about… what… 28?"  
  
"Technically, you could say I'm 25, because that's when I stopped living."  
  
"Not you too!" Harry Kim exclaimed. Aeryn laughed.  
  
"I'm an immortal, When I was 25 I got into a rock-climbing accident, I fell about 500 meters down, and died. But you can imagine my surprise when I woke up later without any injury at all. Luckily, Leo was nearby, he has been a part of my family for centuries, and he was able to help me find out what had happened. Immortality is a genetic thing, some people have it, most people don't; it's also not transplantable into others. What we can do is, well, practically live forever, there is only one way to kill us and that's decapitation. But anyway after I became immortal, I needed time to think and everything and I resigned from Starfleet."  
  
"So when exactly did you become and immortal?" B'Elanna asked.  
  
"2257"  
  
"So you're… what… 143!?"  
  
"Yes, I am," Aeryn said, "You know what, I'll show you, you've seen proof of Angel and Leo, now I'll proof I'm telling the truth. Angel…?"  
  
Angel pulled a short knife out of his boot and gave it to Aeryn who extended her arm and made a straight cut, approximately 15 centimeters long, on it. It began to bleed at first, but suddenly small, blue, energy like tendrils sizzled over the cut and when Aeryn wiped the blood away with a handkerchief she had; the cut was gone, without a scar.  
  
"Cool," Tom said.  
  
"Captain Silverberg," Janeway said, "have you gone to the Academy with James T. Kirk?"  
  
"Yes, Captain, I have, with James Kirk and Spock both. I have even dated Kirk a few times, didn't work out. I also served a year aboard the original Enterprise from 2255 to '56, under Captain Pike." 


	3. Part 3

Aeryn and Angel rematerialized on the transporter pad in the Stella Navis' Transporter Room where Deyran was manning the controls.   
  
"So what's the big emergency?" Aeryn asked as soon as she stepped off the pad.  
  
"Reiko became ill," Deyran, concern obvious on his face. Even though he was not related to Reiko anymore (the previous host Tymion had been), she did still feel like a sister to him. Aeryn nodded and went to walk out, followed by both men.  
  
"I'll go and have a look in Sickbay. Angel, you'd better get started with repairing Stella, Deyran, you assist." With that, she turned a corner as the men turned the other way.  
  
A few minutes later, Aeryn reached the Sickbay, which was only one deck up. As she entered, she saw Reiko sitting up on a biobed with Leo next to her scanning her.  
  
"What's up?" Aeryn inquired. Leo shook his head.  
  
"I don't know, the scans show nothing out of the ordinary yet she's nauseous, dizzy and has this rash," he said and then, turning back to Reiko he continued, "All I can do is give you something for the itch and nausea, but I'd like you to wear this monitor so I can keep up with you body when… or rather, if it goes haywire again."  
  
"Sure," Reiko said as Leo stuck the device on her upper arm.  
  
"Keep it calm for a while," Leo said as he assisted her down from the bed.  
  
"I sure will," Reiko said as she tried her balance. It seemed okay and she tried a few steps, "I'm still not completely sure about my legs."  
  
"Why don't you go and lie down," Aeryn said to her friend.  
  
"I don't know, I could help in fixing Stella…"  
  
"Reiko, you should really lie down, don't make me make it an order…"  
  
Reiko smiled and hugged her friend, "you don't have to, I'll go."  
  
"I'll walk you there, just in case," Aeryn said as she and Reiko walked out of Sickbay. "Leo," Aeryn called back, "you'd better get down to the Bridge, Spike's alone there an I need to get down to assist with the repairs after I drop Reiko of, two men won't be enough to fix the damage we took. Shields and weapons are down."  
  
"How are we going to stay safe then, without that?"  
  
"I talked to Captain Janeway, we're going to stay with Voyager for a while, at least till we've repaired the damage, they've promised to help and protect us if needed."  
  
"Great," Leo replied as he put away the final instruments and came in their direction, "that'll really help." Aeryn nodded and turned back to Reiko.  
  
"We'll go now, you go to the Bridge." With that, they parted ways as Leo took the first lift up to the Bridge and Aeryn and Reiko took the second one down to Reiko's quarters.  
  
After she had dropped her friend off and had made sure she went to bed, she continued her way down to the lowest deck where the Cargo Bays where. Once there she contacted Angel and they discussed repairs for a while after which she set to work.  
  
After working hard for hours, they rested and went to eat something in the messhall together. Angel, Deyran and Aeryn sat at the table eating as they discussed the repairs.  
  
"It's gonna take at least a month if we're going to fix this with just three people," Angel said as he stretched his shoulders, "If Reiko gets better soon and I pull a few all nighters we might be able to do it in three weeks or so but that's it."  
  
"How many extra hands would you need to fix it in two?" Aeryn asked.   
  
"One person extra if Reiko helps too, if she isn't up to it, two people."  
  
Aeryn nodded, thinking.  
  
"You know what, I'll check up on Reiko later and then I'll contact Voyager to see if they could lend us one or two engineers," she said as she looked at her friends and crew. She smiled at Deyran, who still had 'worried' written all over his face.  
  
"I'm sure Reiko will be fine," she added as she pinched his arm. It had been only a year since Tymion, the previous host of the Yiy symbiont and brother to Reiko, had died and Deyran had subsequently decided to remain onboard the Stella Navis because he felt so connected to all the people on board; especially Reiko, his 'sister' and Aeryn, who had been married to Tymion.  
  
Deyran nodded, "Yeah, she's strong, but I can't help worrying, she's never been sick. Well, except for some children's diseases, but that's all."  
  
Angel smiled at him, compassionate and wicked at the same time, "then let's get back to work, that'll take your mind of things."  
  
Deyran nodded and the three stood up after which both men went back to fixing the damage as Aeryn headed for Reiko's quarters.  
  
Once there she rang the bell and a clear voice from inside said: "Come in." Aeryn smiled, that sounded as the Reiko she knew. She stepped inside and smiled at her friend who was sitting in a comfy chair, reading a book.  
  
"How'ya doing?" Aeryn asked.   
  
Reiko smiled at her, "I'm fine now, I 'm not dizzy and nauseous anymore and it seems as if the rash is disappearing too."  
  
"And walking?"  
  
"Fine, I walked from bed to shower to desk to here and such and no trouble at all."  
  
"Weird," Aeryn said; a little touch of concern nagging at the edge of her mind, "anyway, you take it easy for the rest of the day and if you feel up to it tomorrow you can assist in the repairs. Now, if you excuse me, I've got to contact Voyager and see if they can send a pair of extra hands tomorrow." Reiko nodded.   
  
"Okay, and…," she said and smiled, "don't worry Aeryn, I'm fine, I'd tell you if I were feeling bad." Aeryn nodded and smiled too as she turned around and left and shortly waved before the doors closed again. She headed for her Ready Room and sat down at her desk to contact Voyager.  
  
"…so Captain, to cut to the point, I was wondering if you could lend me an extra pair of engineering hands," Aeryn said, smiling at Janeway on the monitor.  
  
"Sure, that won't be a problem," Janeway said, "I'll send someone over tomorrow at 0800, is that okay?"   
  
"Perfect, thank you very much Captain," Aeryn said and after exchanging some more pleasantries, they cut the connection.  
  
The next morning, Aeryn and Angel were in the Transporter Room at 0800 and Aeryn waited as someone materialized on their transporter pad. When the transport was complete, they saw it was Harry Kim.  
  
"Captain Silverberg…" he said as he stepped off the pad.  
  
"Ensign Kim, welcome aboard," she said as she extended her hand to him, "and please, just call me Aeryn, people only call me Captain at really official things."  
  
Harry smiled and shook her hand, "Alright, Aeryn."   
  
Aeryn then turned and indicated Angel, "You remember Angel…" Harry nodded and shook his hand too.   
  
"Angel is, as you might remember, the Chief Engineer here, he'll put you to work somewhere."   
  
"Okay," Harry said and fastened his grip on the Engineering kit he was carrying.  
  
"Follow me then," Angel said as he led the way out of the Transporter Room. Aeryn walked with them to Engineering when they ran into Spike.  
  
"Hey, Aeryn," he said, "you'd better get up to the Bridge for a sec, I think there's something you wanna see."  
  
"And you came all the way down just to tell me that?" Aeryn asked.  
  
"Hell no," Spike said, "I was on my way to Astro, it's been damaged and I figured I should go and fix it, since it's my specialty."  
  
"Good point," Aeryn said, "Oh, by the way, Spike this is Harry Kim, he's gonna help us repair the damage. Harry, this is Spike, our pilot and Astrometrics Officer."  
  
"Nice to meet you," Harry said, as he slightly enlarged his eyes, obviously he remembered that Spike was a vampire to.   
  
"Okay," Aeryn said, "I need an update, Angel, you and Harry are going down?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Where're Deyran and Leo?"  
  
"Deyran's up with Reiko," Spike said, "and Leo's in Sickbay."  
  
"Okay, I'm going up to check on… whatever's there and then I'll switch Leo to Bridge duty and take Reiko down to assist the repair crew if she's ready. If not, I'll take Deyran with me, if she is, Deyran's the replace guy."  
  
"Aye-aye," Angel said and took Harry and Spike with him to the turbolift. Aeryn turned around and took the second lift up.  
  
"So, what's going on around here," Aeryn said as she entered the Bridge where Reiko was standing behind a console and Deyran sat at the helm. They both looked back and smiled at their Captain and friend.  
  
"We found some fluctuations," Reiko said as she tapped a few buttons, "look."  
  
Aeryn studied the console and frowned.  
  
"Hmm…" she said, smoothly slipping from Friend-mode into Captain-mode, "magnify that on screen." She studied the anomaly on screen with a puzzled look.  
  
"Okay, you know I'm all about the weapons," she said, "so what is this?"  
  
Deyran and Reiko exchanged a look.  
  
"I'm not really sure," Reiko said, "it looks like a sort of flux conduit, subharmonic possibly."  
  
"Although it could be a metagenic particle string, the readings are unclear," Deyran added.  
  
"Is it dangerous?" Aeryn asked the standard question.  
  
"We don't think so," Reiko said, "nothing has changed since we discovered it an hour ago and Voyager hasn't said anything about it either and they must have detected it, their sensors are better."  
  
"Very well," Aeryn said, "then I need someone to come down with me and help repairs. Harry Kim has beamed aboard from Voyager and he's helping Angel in Engineering itself, Spike's working in the Astrometrics Lab and I need some help in the Cargo Bays. How are you doing Reiko?"  
  
"I'm fine," she said, "Never been better, it's as if I never were sick at all yesterday, even the rash is gone."  
  
"And the monitor?" Aeryn asked.  
  
"Leo thought it was strange and said I have to wear this till tonight to make sure."  
  
"Okay, I'd like you to stay here for a while and you Deyran come with me to help. In the meantime Reiko, call Leo up here to help on the Bridge, if you need to replace someone, I'll call."  
  
"Sure," Reiko said and called Leo up when the Aeryn and Deyran left.   
  
"Aeryn," Deyran suddenly began, "is something wrong? You've been acting a bit 'out-of-you' the last few days." Aeryn smiled at him and then sighed.  
  
"I figured you'd probably notice," she said, you know me as well as Tymion did and he could always tell when something was bothering me, even when the others, whom I've known almost all my life, don't see it."  
  
"So, what's up then?"  
  
"Tomorrow," she began, "it's exactly a year since Tymion died."  
  
Deyran softly gasped, he should have realized. He pulled Aeryn to him and stopped mid-pace.  
  
"I'm sorry," he said, "I should've realized that."   
  
Aeryn shook her head; "you shouldn't, for you it's the beginning of your new life. I'm just very glad that you're here so I have someone with whom I can really talk about Tymion. You now know him from the inside."  
  
"If you want, we can talk for a bit, the damage to the Cargo Bays isn't that severe, it could wait a little while."  
  
"I'd like that," Aeryn said, nodding, "but we can do both, talk and fix…"  
  
"Sure."  
  
Soon they reached Cargo Bay 2 which was the most damaged one. They took place on a pack of crates conveniently stored underneath the panels they had to work with.  
  
Slowly they removed the panels and began fixing the burnt-out wiring as they began talking, hesitant at first…  
  
"So," Deyran began, "I think you should know, that Tymion… well, you were his everything."  
  
"I know… he didn't really tell me that, but I… I could feel it, here," Aeryn pressed her hand against her heart, "he gave my life meaning; as Immortal, you live on forever and you will always lose people and therefore, Immortals tend to not get too close to mortals. But Tymion made me forget that and I've never regretted it. Even now, after his death."  
  
"Maybe the fact he was joined helped."  
  
"I think it did, because I knew he'd live on, in a way, after he died, I just didn't expect it to be so soon."  
  
"Do you remember," Deyran began, "that time, shortly after you were married when he took you to the hot baths on Risa?"  
  
"Yes," Aeryn laughed, "I'd forgot to tell him that I can't stand heat because I'm half Sebacean and I almost got sick of just being close to the baths."  
  
They continued with the 'Do you remember this' and 'What about that' for about an hour. By then, they had shifted positions and Aeryn and Deyran were working side by side, trying to close a leak. As they finished and Aeryn put her tools down to massage her hand, Deyran looked at her.  
  
"Let me," he said as he expertly rubbed her hand. Do you remember that time when I…" He fell silent and stopped rubbing.  
  
"I-I'm sorry," he said, but Aeryn just smiled.  
  
"It's okay," she said and grabbed his hand, "it's a normal reaction." As she carefully pinched his hand to show she didn't mind, Deyran continued massaging her hand. Slowly they bend over to each other and their lips touched.  
  
Aeryn pulled back at first, but then succumbed to it. Their kisses became more intense and soon Deyran dropped his tools and he and Aeryn shifted to a lying position on top of the crates. Slowly, they kissed with more passion and their hands began to fuss with each others clothing.   
  
By the time they were both undressed, they couldn't stop anymore, not even if they wanted to… 


	4. Part 4

Aeryn hurried through the corridors of the Stella Navis as she hastily zipped up the last part of her uniform. In Cargo Bay 2, Deyran still sat on the crates, dressing himself. He would kick his own butt if he could, how could he have let that happen? He sighed as he jumped of the crates and headed for the exit.  
  
"I have to talk to her," he said to himself and headed in the direction of a turbolift since she was probably on her way to her quarters.   
  
And indeed she was. She stormed inside and dropped herself on the couch. Trembling, she asked herself how she could have let this happen.  
  
When the door chimed, she knew it was Deyran.  
  
"Go away," she said.  
  
"Aeryn we need to talk about this."  
  
"Not now!"  
  
"Are you staying in?"  
  
"Yes…"  
  
"I'll ask Reiko to help in the Cargo Bays then."  
  
"Do that, now go away."  
  
'Gods, what have I done,' Aeryn thought, 'I –I had sex with Deyran, not Tymion, oh Gods… It's all his fault, if he hadn't started… No, that's bull. I-I-I… Reiko, she'll help…' Aeryn tapped her commbadge, completely forgetting that Deyran would ask Reiko for help.  
  
"Aeryn to Reiko."  
  
"Reiko here."  
  
"Can you come here, I-I need you…"  
  
"Aeryn? Are you alright?"  
  
"Yes… no…"  
  
"I'll be on my way, Reiko out."  
  
Reiko quickly called Deyran to let him know she wasn't coming.  
  
"…Aeryn needs me, I'll come as soon as possible."  
  
"But…"  
  
"No buts, Reiko out."  
  
A few minutes later she stood at Aeryn's door. Hesitantly she pressed the chime, she had no idea what to expect.  
  
"Come in," came Aeryn's voice from inside. Reiko stepped inside and looked around. Where was she?   
  
As her eyes got used to the somewhat darkened room, she spotted Aeryn on the couch and in a few steps she was with her friend.  
  
"Aeryn…? What's up?" Reiko asked as she sat down next to her. She laid her hand on Aeryn's shoulder and that triggered a flow of tears from Aeryn. Reiko pulled her friend closer and hugged her.  
  
In between soft sobs, Aeryn was able to tell her what had happened as Reiko just held her.  
  
"…and-and I… and now…" Aeryn finished.  
  
"Shhhh," Reiko said and patted Aeryn on the back, "calm down now, it's not that bad. It actually doesn't really surprise me that it happened. I mean…" she continued as Aeryn gave her a somewhat surprised look, "think about it… Deyran is the new host of the Yiy symbiont, he has all of Tymion's memories and feelings and stuff. And he also looks a bit like Tymion. And it's logical that you'd be thinking extra about Tymion in this time and it's no shame that you let your guard down and fell for Deyran."  
  
Aeryn didn't say anything, but she had stopped crying during Reiko's little speech.  
  
"I-I guess you're right, but it feels as if… as if I'm betraying him, betraying his memory."  
  
"Look, what happened, happened. You can't change it, it's up to you now to decide if this was all it was. Anyhow, you'll have to talk to Deyran about this, he's probably feeling terrible too."  
  
"But that's the other thing, what if Deyran has feelings for me?" Aeryn said, getting up, "I mean, shouldn't he have, at least a little, or else he wouldn't have gone that far, would he?"  
  
"If I know Deyran a bit I'd say 'yes, he has feelings for you', but if you don't return those feelings, tell him, he deserves that and it will help him deal with it too."  
  
Aeryn nodded shortly, "You're right, but not just now."  
  
Reiko stayed with Aeryn for a while longer till she had calmed down after which she got up to go.  
  
"Deyran called if I could help him… well, fix what you where doing before… Why don't you hold the fort up on the Bridge?"  
  
"Okay," Aeryn said, smiling to reassure Reiko she was fine, as far as she could be, "I'll do that."  
  
Reiko then stepped outside and said, just before the door closed: "Don't wait too long…"  
  
Aeryn stayed in her quarters for another half hour when she realized she couldn't stay in here while her crew was fixing the ship by themselves. She had the computer tell her where Deyran was and ordered the computer to tell her when Deyran was going somewhere else. After that, she left her quarters and went up to the Bridge where Leo was holding the fort by himself.   
  
"Aeryn," Leo said, almost called out, when she entered, "Are you okay? I sensed…"  
  
Aeryn threw him a little smile, "I'm okay, I think, but I don't really want to talk about it."  
  
Leo nodded as he accepted her answer, he and Aeryn had been friends ever since she had been a teenager, more than hundred years ago. He knew something was bothering her and it hurt him that she couldn't share it with him.   
  
Aeryn looked up and met his eyes; she sensed his general feelings and smiled reassuringly.  
  
"I'm really okay and I will tell you, just not know; I'm not up to it."  
  
Satisfied with that, the two people went on with their duties.   
  
That evening, after a hard day of work, Aeryn retreated to her quarters early. The 'incident' hadn't been out of her thoughts all day and she knew she had to talk to Deyran.   
  
"Computer, record message," Aeryn said.  
  
The computer bleeped shortly to tell it was ready.  
  
"Deyran, it's me, Aeryn. Could we talk? Somewhere that's not either of our quarters? Uhm… maybe the messhall, it's usually empty at this time. Thanks. End message, send to Deyran."  
  
Again the computer bleeped and the message was sent. Aeryn waited for an answer while fidgeting with her shirt. The last time she had been feeling so insecure had been ages ago and she didn't like the feeling. A minute or two later the computer bleeped and said: "incoming transmission."  
  
"Playback."  
  
"Hey, Aeryn, good you called, uhm… the messhall's okay, uhm, when did you want to meet? Tonight or… I mean, I'm free, I could… Could you call me with the time?"  
  
Aeryn let the breath she didn't know she was holding escape.  
  
"Computer, record message. 'How about now?' End message, send to Deyran."  
  
A few seconds after she had sent the message, a new one came in.  
  
"Okay, see you there."  
  
Aeryn sighed once more, got up and left her quarters on her way to the messhall.  
  
When she arrived in the mess, Deyran was there already.  
  
"Hey," he said throwing her a quick smile, "are you okay?"  
  
"Not really," Aeryn said as she indicated a table, "let's sit."  
  
When they sat, she paused for a breath and straightened up.  
  
"Look, what happened today, it shouldn't have. I like you Deyran, you've been a very good friend, but it's just too soon."  
  
"Aeryn," Deyran said, "I like you a lot, more than just as a friend, but I didn't mean for today to happen. Especially not on this day."  
  
"Tymion was my soulmate," Aeryn said, "and when he died it felt as if my heart was ripped out. When the symbiont survived, at first I was desperate, Tymion would be gone, but his memories and all would still be here, yet he wasn't here. When the symbiont ended up with you and we came to know you, you became a friend and when you decided to travel with us, I was extremely happy. My outlook on the symbiont had changed, because now, even though Tymion would be gone, his memories and all would still be here, with us. Point is this, I've gradually over the past year come to see you as your own separate person and I like you very much too and maybe some day we might become more than friends, but not now. After a year, the wound is still fresh, and even though there are days I don't think of Tymion, the ones he's in my mind all day still very much outnumber the days he isn't."  
  
Deyran nodded when she finished.  
  
"I understand, I won't say things like 'let's pretend it never happened' because that's impossible, at least for me, and I think for you too," he said, "But I will let you dictate the pace, we'll be friends, and I'll be here for you as a friend, and if the day comes you want to take it a step further… well, we'll see about it then."  
  
Aeryn smiled at him and took the hand he extended. They sat for a moment with their hands locked, glad that this obstacle was out of the way.  
  
"You want something to drink?" Deyran asked, indicating the replicator with his head.  
  
"Sure, coffee please."  
  
Deyran got up and went to get drinks for the two of them after which they spent some more time in the mess talking.  
  
The next morning Aeryn walked onto the Bridge with a smile on her face. Reiko gave her a questioning look and Aeryn smiled at her and whispered to her as she passed by her: "All is well again."  
  
Reiko gave her a full-hearted smile and turned her attention back to her console.   
  
Except for Angel and Leo, everyone was on the Bridge and Aeryn called for attention.  
  
"Okay people, I need an update; Deyran, Reiko, what about the funny phenomenon?"  
  
"Still there, hasn't changed at all except for the standard fluctuations it had when we discovered it," Reiko answered.  
  
Aeryn then tapped her commbadge: "Angel, how's it going down there?"  
  
"Fine, just fine. Harry's back already and we're making good progress. Some of the damage appears to be less severe than we thought so we should be ready in a week."  
  
"Perfect, that's the time-saving I need, one week in a night. Aeryn out. Spike, how's Astro doing?"  
  
"Good as new, finished it yesterday."  
  
"Perfect. I've been talking to Janeway this morning and we've decided that we're going to travel together for an undefined period. Basically, till we're sick of it and want to take another route or explore something; because Voyager does explore, but her main goal is to take a course as straight as possible to the Alpha Quadrant. We are not really bound by time limitations, except when it comes to you two," Aeryn said as she nodded to Deyran and Reiko. "But, we'll tackle those issues when they come on our path; we've got a lifetime to hang around here if we want to. If we don't, we'll just use the Improbability Drive again and we'll see were we'll end up."  
  
"Speaking of Improbability Drive, are you going to give the technology to Voyager? It could help them get home; they can just try a few times until they end up in the Alpha Quadrant and then just move along home," Spike said.  
  
"I've been thinking about it, but it's impossible. The Drive was designed for this vessel, it won't work on Voyager. And modifying Voyager to accept the Drive would require a complete overhaul of the vessel and cutting parts off to decrease the vessel size. And modifying the Drive to work on a ship that big would either destroy it or work only once with a 75 percent chance of blowing the entire vessel up."  
  
"Ow, that's a shame," Reiko said. Aeryn nodded and sat down in the command chair.  
  
"Okay, let's continue on with the daily things, fix this ship and keep an eye on the FP."  
  
"The what?" Spike asked.  
  
"The FP, Funny Phenomenon," Aeryn laughed as she began reading the latest repair report. 


	5. Part 5

The Really Big Cross-Over  
  
Part 5  
  
A few days had passed and the Stella Navis was completely repaired and good as new. Aeryn and her crew had been traveling along with Voyager now and were currently busy planning a crew exchange. One by one, Aeryn's people would serve aboard Voyager for a while to experience being on a big starship and in return, also one by one, Janeway's senior staff would serve aboard the Stella. At that moment, Aeryn entered the Bridge from her Ready Room.  
  
The only people on the Bridge at this time were Spike and Deyran, Reiko was sleeping as was Angel while Leo kept an eye on Engineering.   
  
"It's done," Aeryn announced. "The crew exchange," she explained on Deyran's questioning look. "Tomorrow Commander Chakotay will come aboard and serve as First Officer for a week. During that time, Deyran, you will be assisting here and there. I think you will mostly want to take over Operations."  
  
"Why Ops?"  
  
"'Cause of Reiko," Aeryn replied.  
  
"But she recovered!?"  
  
"She did, but she isn't up to the full 100 percent, she's hiding it, but I can tell."  
  
Deyran nodded, "Then, of course. At what time will Commander Chakotay be arriving tomorrow?"  
  
"0700."  
  
"Then I'd better prepare some quarters."  
  
"Yeah," Spike laughed, "We don't want him sleeping in between sacks and boxes."  
  
The Stella Navis had eight crew quarters, but normally, with a crew of six, they didn't need the extra two and these then doubled as extra labs and Cargo Storage. This was mainly because, even though the Stella Navis had a lab and two Cargo Bays, there always seemed to be not enough space.  
  
"You'd better take the one next to mine, it's the easiest one to empty," Aeryn replied.  
  
"Will do."  
  
Deyran scurried along the corridors to Room 06, the numerical designation of the Quarters next to Aeryn's. The Bridge was 01, Sickbay 02, the messhall/rec room 03, Aeryn's quarters 04, Reiko's 05, the empty set 06, his quarters were 07 and then there were the Astrometrics Lab, Transporter Room and the Holosuite which had 08, 09 and 10 with Engineering having number 11. The rooms on the Stella Navis' second and final deck; Cargo Bays 1 and 2; Leo's quarters; the second set of empty quarters; Angel's quarters; Spike's quarters and the Shuttle Bay had numbers 12 through 18 respectively.   
  
As he stepped inside, he took in the surroundings and sighed with relief. All there was, was a bunch of scientific equipment. He shoved whatever he could to one corner and brought the smaller loose things to Astrometrics and the storage room in Engineering. That one was actually ment for spare engineering parts, but it could hold the equipment for a week.  
  
After that, he put the furniture, which was shoved in all the other corners or in use as lab material back to their original positions and tested the small kitchenette and the replicator.   
  
Deyran was about to leave when he remembered something and checked the small bedroom. And indeed, he was right, there were no sheets and pillows so he quickly replicated a set and placed it on the backend of the bed. Then, he did leave and headed back for the Bridge. There he found not only Aeryn and Spike but Reiko too.   
  
"Hey sis," Deyran greeted her. Even though Tymion had been her brother and not Deyran, they still often called each other brother and sister.  
  
"Hey bro," she replied.   
  
Before they could do or say anything else, a claxon sounded and Angel's voice, who had returned for duty, came over the comm.  
  
"Engineering here, emergency, warp core breach in 20 seconds!!"  
  
"What!" Aeryn exclaimed, "Leo!"  
  
Leo orbed in from sickbay the moment she called, he had already been on his way.  
  
"Orb me down," she ordered and grabbed his arm. The next moment he orbed both of them down to Engineering and Aeryn made a run for the warp core.  
  
"Warp core breach in 9, 8…"  
  
Aeryn raised her hands and froze it.  
  
"Angel, care to explain?"  
  
He shook his head, non-believing: "There is no explanation. Everything's fine, it just suddenly went from perfect functioning to warp core breach in 20 seconds"  
  
Aeryn turned her gaze to Leo.  
  
"I sense magic," she said. Leo nodded.  
  
"We'll do the searching," Aeryn decided, "you fix this thing before it unfreezes, we'll search here just in case. Leo, can you get the book?"  
  
Leo nodded again and orbed out.  
  
It was quite a commotion aboard the small ship, it wasn't everyday that magic happened, but Aeryn and her gang were used to it. Aeryn was a witch, the last in the long line of Warren-Halliwell-Silverberg witches. Leo was her Whitelighter; and also technically some sort of uncle, he had been married to Piper, one of the Charmed Ones and sister of Phoebe, one of her ancestors. Aeryn had all three of the traditional W-H-S powers: telekinesis; time freeze and premonitions but had developed a bit of telepathy over the years. Its range wasn't very far, she could speak with Leo in her mind; that is talk to him and hear him answer; and she could send messages to Spike and Angel. Deyran and Reiko were not receptive for her telepathy. She didn't know whether or not this was because they were non-magical beings, or if it was a result of Trill physiology.  
  
Leo had been Aeryn's Whitelighter ever since she started developing powers, around her 15th birthday. When she became immortal, both had realized this was the end of the witch's line. Because, yes, she was practically unkillable by demons, but she would not ever continue the line; immortals were sterile. It wasn't long after she became immortal that the four of them; Aeryn, Leo, Angel & Spike; decided to go and explore the galaxy. She had known the two vamps since she was about 18 when Leo had introduced her to them. Leo, by then, had known both of them for about 250 years.   
  
When Leo returned with the Book of Shadows, now twice the size it had been in the Charmed Ones' days, they sat down to do research. All information in the book was also saved in the computer, but when doing research, Aeryn still preferred the Book itself, to feel the tome's ancient pages and the magic contained in it. She went through the book while Angel fixed the warp core and prevented it from breaching after the time freeze wore off.   
  
But after meticulously digging through the Book, they turned up nothing.  
  
"There's just too little information," Leo said.  
  
Aeryn nodded and shut the book.   
  
"I'm going up again," she said, "Leo, you'd better stand by for any more emergencies, I'm sure they will be forthcoming."  
  
"Sure," he replied.  
  
When Aeryn reached the Bridge, she spotted the Funny Phenomenon on the viewscreen.  
  
"Update," she said as she sat down in the Big Chair and nodded towards the viewscreen.  
  
"It has grown," Reiko said, "its size dramatically increased with 29% at the time of the core breach and has grown to a 43% increase in the last hour."  
  
"So it's probably tied in with the problem down there," Aeryn said, thinking, "There's magic in the field, that core breach was not natural, everything was working perfectly and yet…"  
  
"Ya guessing a demon or warlock?" Spike asked.  
  
"I'm guessing that, it's too coincidental to be normal."  
  
"Cool," he said.  
  
"Couldn't it be Q?" Reiko asked.  
  
Aeryn shook her head: "I don't think so, Q's all about games, everything he does is a game to him; and that core breach was not a game, it was a deliberate attempt at our lives."  
  
The rest of the day, they were more alert and ready for anything out of the ordinary to happen, but nothing did.  
  
The next morning, Aeryn and Deyran gathered in the Transporter Room at 0700 to welcome Commander Chakotay to the Stella Navis. Right on time, the transporter came to life and Chakotay materialized on the pad. He stepped off with the small Starfleet Issue bag slung over his shoulder.  
  
"Commander Chakotay reporting for duty," he said as he stepped of the pad in front of Aeryn.  
  
"Commander, welcome aboard the Stella Navis III. May I introduce you to Deyran Yiy; normally the First Officer of this vessel and also the Science Officer. He will be escorting you to your quarters where you can drop of your stuff; after which I'd like to see you in my Ready Room."  
  
"Certainly," Chakotay said.  
  
"Very well," Deyran said, "If you'll follow me."  
  
And so Deyran and Chakotay walked the few meters to the spare quarters as Aeryn turned the other way into Engineering.  
  
"Hey, what's up?" Angel asked from Lower Engineering where he was standing when he spotted Aeryn on the upper floor.  
  
"Nothing, just checking up on things, after yesterday you know…" Angel nodded understanding as he turned around and indicated the space around him and said: "As you can see, everything's fine; but don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on everything here."  
  
"Need assistance with that? Deyran's available with Chakotay being here for the week."  
  
"Could be useful," Angel agreed.  
  
"Very well, I'll send him over in a few minutes."  
  
After this intermezzo, Aeryn walked the 17 meters from Engineering to the Bridge and, once there, turned right into her Ready Room where Deyran and Chakotay were waiting.  
  
"Sorry I kept you waiting," she apologized, "Deyran, I think it's best if you go to Engineering to assist Angel, he would like a second pair of eyes and hands in case of trouble like yesterday."  
  
"Sure," Deyran said, "I will see you this week Commander, but for now, I wish you the best."  
  
"Thank you," Chakotay replied and returned Deyran's parting nod.  
  
"Now Commander," Aeryn said as she sat down behind her desk, "let's talk business." Chakotay smiled and sat himself down in front of her.  
  
"Let's," he said.  
  
"First of all, as you might have noticed, we're a very informal bunch here. This comes mainly out of us being friends above all. Another thing in this is the fact that only three of us are… well, with rank, namely me, Deyran and Reiko; whom you will meet later. I take it you remember the briefing on Voyager about my… unusual crew?"  
  
Chakotay merely nodded not to interrupt Aeryn.  
  
"Well, when I resigned from Starfleet, I didn't really resign as most people do. I retained my commission and have, through the years progressed in rank. In exchange for this, we supply Starfleet with a lot of research and exploration data. This means that Starfleet, or rather, a select group of admirals, is aware of the concept of immortals, vampires and Whitelighters but this is kept on a strict need-to-know base only. My rank, after 117 years of exploring is Captain, I have been one for 97 years. Reiko has also graduated from the academy and carries the rank of Lieutenant as does Deyran. They have both resigned Starfleet in the conventional way and are… well stuck with that rank." Aeryn laughed shortly.  
  
"But to cut to the point I was going to make, we don't really do ranks here, we work on a first name base which works fine for us since we're all friends. Question to you is then, would you mind being addressed as Chakotay and not Commander?"  
  
"Not at all," Chakotay said, "it reminds me of my days in the Maquis, we never called each other by rank either."  
  
"Perfect," Aeryn said, "Now that that's out of the way, I'll brief you about some other things about me and how they relate to the 'slight problem' we had yesterday."  
  
"That 'slight problem'," Chakotay said, "would that be the warp core breach you almost had?"  
  
"Yeah, that would be it."  
  
"Good," Chakotay said, "we were curious how you managed to resolve that so quickly."  
  
And with that, Aeryn began the long explanation of her being a witch and the sudden imminent, unnatural, warp core breach. The whole thing, with questions from Chakotay in between took 30 minutes to explain. By then, Chakotay felt like he was flooded with information.  
  
"Well," Aeryn said after all the talking was over, "let's meet the others and show you around."  
  
"Gladly," Chakotay said, not completely able to suppress the slight excitement, "I'm very curious about the ship and its remaining crew." With that, the two people left the Ready Room and entered the Bridge. There, Reiko and Spike were holding the fort.   
  
"Reiko, Spike," Aeryn said, "meet the new First Officer; this is Chakotay. Chakotay, these are Spike; helmsman and Chief Astrometrics; and Reiko Shren; Chief Operations and Astrometrics Officer."  
  
"A pleasure," Chakotay said as he shook hands with both of them.  
  
"You guys can hold the fort a bit longer while I give Chakotay a tour, right?"  
  
"You need to ask?" Reiko said while Spike just made a noise best transcribed as 'hmmpf'.  
  
"Let's go," Aeryn said to Chakotay as she left and shot a bright grin to her friends.  
  
"Oh, Briefing Room by the way is over there," she said as she pointed to the other side of the Bridge, opposite the Ready Room."  
  
Following that, she showed him Sickbay, the Messhall/rec room; she pointed out which quarters belonged to who and then lead him to Astrometrics, the Holosuite and Upper Engineering. There they took the simple Engineering lift down and checked out Lower Engineering, the two Cargo Bays, the rest of the quarters and the Shuttle Bay with in it the Stella's two small, 4x2.5 meter, shuttles; the Stella Navicula I and II.  
  
"My Latin isn't so good," Chakotay commented, "what does it mean?"  
  
"Well, it's tied in to the meaning of Stella Navis, which means Star Ship. Navicula means little ship, so the shuttles are basically named little starship I and II. We usually refer to them as just 'Navicula I' or 'II' and skip the 'Stella' part. And in the same fashion we usually refer to this ship as just 'the Stella' or 'Stella'."  
  
"Well," Chakotay began, "I must say, I think I'm really gonna like it here, it reminds me of my Maquis days, even though this ship looks about ten times better."  
  
"It is," Aeryn said, not bragging but simply stating the fact. "This ship was built in 2351, it is 24 years old but has been updated and refitted regularly and she's as up to date as a ship can be. She makes Warp 9.9 if necessary and has a stable cruising velocity of Warp 7. And in 2372 we also implemented the same bio-neural gel packs Voyager uses."  
  
"I am truly impressed," Chakotay said as they headed back for the turbolift to return to the Bride and begin work. 


	6. Part 6

"So how was your first day as First Officer on the Stella?" Aeryn asked.  
  
Chakotay broke out in a big smile.  
  
"Very good," he said, "I never realized how much I liked being on a small ship with only a few people whom you all knew personally. Don't get me wrong, I love being on Voyager, but this… It just makes me feel at home."  
  
"I'm glad," Aeryn said, "I wouldn't want a First Officer who disliked being here."  
  
She then picked up a PADD and quickly scanned the contents.  
  
"Now, I called you up here not just to ask about your day, but for us to review this." She handed him the PADD and continued: "We don't really have the custom to have day reports and such, with so little people everybody knows everything around so it's not really necessary, but sometimes there are things I'd like to discuss with the First Officer before I do with the rest."  
  
"Makes sense," Chakotay said as he also scanned the PADD.   
  
"The Funny Phenomenon?" he then said. Aeryn chuckled.  
  
"Yeah, our nickname for the anomaly outside, we're not overly formal here. So what do you think, you've no doubt discussed it on Voyager and I'd like your view. And possibly the views of your crewmates too."  
  
"Well, we're not really sure. We've ruled out a wormhole, a temporal displacement and a subspace rift. Besides that, we haven't gotten anywhere." Aeryn nodded and changed the subject.  
  
"Well, did you read the report on our Engineering trouble?" Chakotay nodded.  
  
"Warp core breach out of nothing. You were only just able to stop it and suspect a magical cause," Chakotay said and frowned only slightly at the words 'magical cause'.  
  
"Indeed, and I did see that frown," Aeryn said with a grin, "and that's okay, I don't ask that you believe it right away. I also believe that I haven't gotten around to the magical part of this crew haven't I?"  
  
"Not that I can remember," Chakotay said, readying himself for another tale of incredible things.  
  
"Well, I am what is usually referred to as a witch. That is also the reason why Leo has been a part of my family, I told you he was a Whitelighter didn't I?"  
  
Chakotay nodded.  
  
"Well, Whitelighters are, as I said, a sort of guardian angels but I didn't tell you that they are guardian angels especially for witches. He has been the Whitelighter of the witches in my family for centuries, since the late 20th/early 21st century. And as such, he is also my Whitelighter. I have certain gifts, as I like to refer to it. I posess three special powers that have been in my family ever since the 17th century; namely telekinesis, the gift of premonitions of past and present and the gift to freeze people and things for a while. Also, ever since I became immortal, I developed a telepathic bond with Leo, that's how I knew there was an emergency when he orbed out during our initial meeting. Oh, and to proof it, well…" Aeryn glanced at the cup on her desk and made it fly through the air in random patterns.   
  
"I can't really proof the premonition part and for the time freeze… hold on."   
  
Aeryn tapped her badge and said: "Spike, be so kind as to come to my Ready Room for a minute."  
  
"Sure," came the reply. And a few seconds later, Spike walked in. As soon as the door closed behind him, and he had stepped up to her desk, Aeryn froze him.  
  
"Check him out if you want. I can personally unfreeze him and if I leave him like this, he'll unfreeze out of himself in approximately 5 minutes. I have learned to control the amount of 'freeze' I throw at people and can time it from roughly 5 to 30 minutes."  
  
Chakotay had stood up and was now circling Spike. He held his hand for his mouth but was interrupted by Aeryn.  
  
"That won't work, Spike's a vampire remember, they don't breath. For that matter I better could have taken somebody else. But no, frozen people don't breathe. Everything is stopped, also their internal organs and everything. It's like stasis."  
  
Chakotay grabbed the tricorder Aeryn was now holding out to him and scanned Spike, then he prodded him a bit and finally he sat down again.  
  
"That's amazing," was all he could say as Aeryn unfroze Spike.  
  
"So what's the deal?" Spike asked.  
  
"Oh," Aeryn said, "people also don't remember being frozen, they don't notice, so for them, no time has passed when they wake up."  
  
"You froze me!?"   
  
"Had to prove a bit to Chakotay, you may go back to the bridge now."   
  
"Hmph," Spike said as he turned around and walked back to the Bridge.  
  
"Okay, one more thing, this information is sensitive, you may share it with the people that where present at our initial meeting only."  
  
Chakotay nodded, "understood."  
  
Next day began uneventful, there was a rather easy first contact with a new species for Voyager which got them (and the Stella too) some materials they needed.   
  
By afternoon, the FP had grown again but besides that it was unchanged.   
  
Still, Aeryn called a meeting for that night and so they all sat on the Bridge at that point.  
  
Chakotay seemed puzzled by this and asked to the reason why they had this meeting on the Bridge and not in the Briefing Room.  
  
"It's 'cause we're with so little a crew," Spike said.  
  
"Yeah," Reiko confirmed, "we need to keep an eye on ship operations at the same time."  
  
"This ship," Aeryn added, "was designed for eight people as you know. But it can support 24, that is, three per quarters. And the Briefing Room is more for trips with such a bigger crew, since then you don't have all the crew in a meeting. When we have a meeting, it's usually with all of us and then we do it on the Bridge so we can, as Reiko said, keep an eye on everything. And for smaller meetings we usually use my Ready Room, so the Briefing Room is not often used."  
  
'Before we begin, I have an additional question," Chakotay then said.  
  
"Shoot."  
  
"What are… all of you, your functions? I mean, I know the obvious functions, but there's labs and such on this ship, you have to double in functions or else this is impossible to do."  
  
"Yes, we double," Aeryn began, "I am Captain and I serve as Chief Tactical and Security. That I do because it was my track at the Academy. And I'm the Captain because the whole exploring thing was my idea, and at the time I was the only one who had gone to the academy."   
  
Then, Aeryn gave a nod in Reiko's direction, who was sitting next to her, to indicate she was next.  
  
"I'm Chief Operations, also because that was my track at the Academy and I double as Science Officer."  
  
"I'm the Pilot," Spike said, "and Chief Astro."  
  
"He means Astrometrics," Deyran said, "and I am the First Officer and I double as Engineer, which was my track at the Academy, and I serve as one of the spare Pilots."  
  
"Oh yeah," Aeryn said, "I also fly the ship when both Spike and Deyran are unavailable."  
  
"I'm the Chief Engineer," Angel then said, "and I double as Astrometrics Officer."  
  
"And I," Leo, who was last, said, "am the CMO and Chief Science Officer."  
  
"Amazing," Chakotay said, "I mean, in the Maquis we had at least double your crew on a ship this size and even then we were often shorthanded."  
  
"Yes, but you spent your days fighting, we usually spend ours exploring. We don't often get into trouble. Despite our condition when you helped us out," Aeryn said, laughing at the last comment, "But, let's now get into official mode. About the FP. Reiko, Spike, anything?"  
  
Reiko and Spike just shook their heads.  
  
"I might have something," Leo said, "I did some research in the ongoing telemetry we're getting from it and at the time we had our near warp core breach, there was a surge coming from the Phenomenon. And it was directed at us."  
  
"A surge?" Deyran asked.  
  
"Yes, very faint, I almost missed it."  
  
"So you're saying that it caused the breach?" Angel said  
  
"It's possible… I think, well, it could also be magical instead of scientific."   
  
Angel exhaled loudly, "What happened to days when magical was clearly distinguishable from normal…"  
  
Reiko began laughing, "Grandpa's on it again."  
  
And all the time, Chakotay was just observing the exchanges between the small crew.  
  
They shouldn't be called a crew, he thought, it's a family…  
  
"Okay," Aeryn interrupted the merry men and woman, "if it's magical, we can do something about it." She turned and accessed the computer through the console she was near.   
  
"Let's see if there's something in the Book."  
  
"What book," Chakotay asked.  
  
"Book of Shadows, it's a witch's book with spells, information, potions etcetera. It's been in my family since the 1600's. Normally when doing magical research I use the real book 'cause that feels better, but now we're in a bit of a hurry, so I'll access the E-Book variant."  
  
"You put it in the computer?"  
  
"Yeah, in a special protected file. Only the magical ones among us can access all of it. Reiko and Deyran have limited access to descriptions of demons and warlocks and such but not to the actual spells because they can't do them anyway and also not to the potions. For their own protection."  
  
Aeryn continued to look through the electronical version of the BoS for half an hour but found nothing. The others had been searching in the other libraries, Reiko and Deyran, together with Chakotay had been researching the ordinary encyclopedia's coming from all over the galaxy, while Angel, Spike and Leo researched the extensive electronic Occult Library; electronic versions of all of Angel's Occult books, collected over the years by him, and also by his old friends, now long deceased, Giles and Wesley.  
  
"Okay, I give up." Reiko pressed a button and turned the chair she was sitting on. "There is absolutely nothing in the library."  
  
"Same here," Spike said, "the OL's empty too."  
  
Aeryn nodded, "The Book doesn't have anything either."  
  
"I could…" Leo began and glanced upwards.  
  
"Not yet," Aeryn said, decisively, "I don't want the Elders involved unless I absolutely have to. Let's try some more science. There has to be something you haven't tried yet."   
  
"Well, there are some tests we didn't do because what they measure is highly unlikely and stuff," Reiko said as she looked sideways to Leo.  
  
He bit his lip and nodded.  
  
"Well, then, you do that, and we'll… do something else."  
  
"You don't like the… Elders?" Chakotay asked.  
  
"Not particularly," Aeryn said and then noticed his slightly confused look, "The Elders are higher beings, they are the ones who originally gave my family line our powers. They used be very influential in the lives of my ancestors but that ended with the Charmed Ones. They were very famous in the magical dimensions because they were, in their time the most powerful witches around. That was in the early 21st century. After that, the power has remained in the family line, but never as powerful as they were. They were also the last ones the Elders had some sort of control over. The Elders were able to give and take away their powers until they were around their fifties. Then they had become so powerful that the Elders could not remove their powers anymore, all they could do was give. And ever since it has been that way. So the Elders can give me extra powers, but they can't take the ones I have away. And I got those through the bloodline of my family."  
  
"But what do the Elders do?"  
  
"Good question, nowadays, not very much, they are a kind of overseers. They see what happens, they usually have extra information and they are the bosses of Whitelighters. They lost a lot of their power with my family, they used to be able to sort of boss us around but in this time they can't anymore."  
  
"Whitelighters… like Leo, right."  
  
"Yes, but Leo quit after I became immortal. He is still a Whitelighter with all powers that go with the function but he does not have any other official charges except me, and he basically 'does' the others too."  
  
"I see."  
  
The rest of the day went by uneventful, Reiko and Leo did the extra tests they hadn't done before as Aeryn continued spitting through the Occult Library in her Ready Room. The OccLib was so big, they hadn't finished going through it during the meeting. Spike now again manned the helm as the Stella and Voyager flew through space on their way to the Alpha Quadrant.   
  
Chakotay, as First Officer this week, held the Captain's Chair while Angel had returned to Engineering and Deyran held the Operations post on the Bridge.  
  
Aeryn slammed her fist down on the button and as the screen on her desk went black she leaned back in her chair and sighed heavily. I hate it, she thought, why isn't this bastard in any book. Unless… it's an old dog with a new trick…  
  
She got up and stormed unto the Bridge.  
  
"I'll be in the lab."  
  
She barged into the corridor, headed for the lift, went down to Deck 2 and walked to the extra set of empty quarters that were doubling as extra lab.  
  
"Guys, listen up," she said as she entered. Leo and Reiko both turned around and looked at her.  
  
"I couldn't find anything in the books but I was thinking, what if it's an old dog with a new trick?"  
  
"You mean a demon you encountered before," Leo said, "could very well be. But then what?"  
  
"Can we try to beam a piece of the anomaly aboard? Maybe that'll piss hem off enough to appear."  
  
"That I don't exactly know, Reiko?"  
  
"We can try, we'll have to go back to the Bridge then, I'll have to run some scans on Ops first."  
  
Aeryn and Reiko headed back for the Bridge while Leo stopped at the transporter Room with the special sealed container. On the Bridge, Chakotay got up when he saw the women enter, but Aeryn waved him back into the chair.  
  
"Keep the Bridge Commander, I'm busy over here."  
  
Reiko immediately began scanning and soon nodded.  
  
"We can do it," she said.  
  
"Good," Aeryn replied and tapped her commbadge.   
  
"Okay people, listen up," she said to the others on the Bridge and to Angel and Leo in Engineering and the Transporter Room, "we're going to try to beam a part of the anomaly aboard. Angel keep an eye on the engines down there, our little demon might not like it if we try to beam a part of him or his disguise aboard. Leo, Reiko's sending you the coordinates."  
  
"Got them," Leo said a second later, "Initiating transport. It's coming…"  
  
"Look!" Chakotay suddenly said at the same time as a claxon sounded.  
  
"Voyager's warp core is breaching," he yelled as the computer warned of the breach in the vicinity."  
  
"The bastard!" Aeryn yelled, "he knows we'll be watching. Leo! Beam or orb me over there now!"  
  
Almost right away the tingle of the transporter enveloped Aeryn and a second or so later she rematerialized in Voyager's Engineering. She ran towards the warp core and threw up her hands, freezing the assembly.   
  
"Damn!" she suddenly heard behind her and when she turned around, her mouth fell open.  
  
"You!?" 


End file.
